Beijing setting up G20's 1st center to fight graft

China is moving quickly to implement the anti-corruption consensus reached at the G20 Summit, which ended on Monday in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, by setting up the group's first anti-graft research center in Beijing.

The center will provide intelligence support in the hunt for economic fugitives and confiscation of their ill-gotten assets.

The center, based at Beijing Normal University, will officially begin operations in a few months.

Dozens of experts and professionals who specialize in graft-related studies from China and other G20 economies will be recruited, according to the Communist Party of China's Central Commission of Discipline Inspection, the country's top discipline watchdog.

"The establishment of such a center will lay a solid foundation for studies of cross-border corruption crimes and offer intelligence support to fight corruption globally," said Cai Wei, deputy director of the CCDI's International Cooperation Bureau.

He said the center will conduct in-depth research among G20 members on corruption crimes, including comparing domestic and foreign laws, procedures for confiscating illegal assets and extradition and judicial assistance. Transnational commercial bribery will also be studied.

The center will also set up a database of experts and lawyers from G20 members with knowledge of anti-corruption law enforcement, criminal law and asset recovery. These experts will conduct research and training and will share their experiences in tackling such problems, according to the CCDI.

Contact the writers at zhangyan@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 09/08/2016 page1)